This can result in heaviness or puffiness in areas such as the arms and legs and swelling in the ankles, feet, and hands.

This is nothing but water retention (the medical term for it is edema). Fluid retention takes place in the circulatory system or within tissues and leads to swelling in hands, feet, ankles and legs.

Gait changes. Fallen arches. A whole new shoe size. Many women experience these transformations during pregnancy, but the phenomenon is rarely discussed outside the mom group text.